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John Joseph Vaccaro, Jr.
John Joseph Vaccaro, Jr. (March 28, 1942 - November 16, 2015) also known as "Alan Joseph Champagne", was a soldier in the Los Angeles crime family with his base of operations in Las Vegas, Nevada. Biography Vaccaro was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, and has a criminal history dating back to 1971. Vaccaro emerged in the early 70s as a partner in Diamant's 9000, a restaurant on Sunset Blvd. in Hollywood. Vaccaro arranged a partnership deal, which became a $50,000 loan from John Louis Battaglia, Peter Milano and Louis Tom Dragna. The L.A. family then allowed Vaccaro to take a portion of that loan money and also start a gambling operation. The financially strapped Diamant's restaurant eventually failed, as Vaccaro and the others mentioned abused the business financially. In the 1970's, Peter Milano and several others, Vaccaro included, were indicted on racketeering and illegal gambling charges. The most memorable event from this RICO case was the 1974 Las Vegas murders of John Dubeck and his wife, who the prosecution charged had been a partner in the Los Angeles family's gambling operations. Vaccaro, Milano and Gelfuso were suspected to have plotted the murders. Dubeck was scheduled to testify in the case a week after he and his wife were murdered with a shotgun, walking to their apartment in Las Vegas after working. Dubeck had refused FBI protection several times. In addition to this case, Vaccaro was linked to Jerry Zarowitz, who managed Caesar's Palace and to Meyer Lansky. That connection placed Jerry Zarowitz in Miami as a partner in Lum's fast food chain in the late 1960s when they made a bid for Caesar's with Clifford Perlman out front. In addition to Perlman and Zarowitz, the other partners were Jay Sarno, Nathan Jacobson, Harry Wald, Albert Faccinto and the Rogers family "Ben, Victor, Nathan and Sol," from Beaumont, Texas. The Rogers represented Louisiana money. From this connection, Vaccaro was introduced into the Sarno pact and later moved on with Jerry Zarowitz and eventually Peter Milano. Las Vegas and Atlantic City In 1985, Vaccaro was convicted in federal court for being the mastermind of a sophisticated slot cheating ring in operation between approximately April 1982 through December 1982, which stole millions of dollars from Nevada casinos including the Caesar's Boardwalk Regency Hotel/Casino and at Harrah's Marina Hotel/Casino for which he was sentenced to 13 months in state prison and was fined $5,000. Vaccaro has also been identified as a member of the Southern California organized crime family. Vaccaro was also incarcerated in Mississippi for another gaming offense which involved top ranking members of the New Orleans crime family and is included in the Nevada Gaming Commissions Black book, along with the likes of other notorious mobsters and is also barred from entering any Casinos in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Both Vaccaro and his wife were in Nevada's Gaming Commission Black Book. Vaccaro was released from prison in 2003 and was a resident of Boulder City, Nevada, until his death on November 15, 2015. Category:Los Angeles Crime Family Category:Las Vegas Mobsters